Make your dollars matter on #GiveOUTDay

Every gift to Trans Lifeline on Tuesday, August 2 can and will save a life.

August 2 is Give OUT Day, a national fundraising competition when LGBTQ-supporting non-profit organizations compete for more than $100,000 in funds, while raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the greater overall good.

Participating non-profits are organized across 11 different Leaderboards to generate excitement and momentum. Prizes are based on the total number of donors each organization has in the 24-hour period, not the total amount of funds raised.

Give OUT Day is produced by the Horizons Foundation, a community foundation of, by, and for LGBTQ people, that has been supporting LGBTQ nonprofit organizations, leaders, and donors for more than 35 years.

Milwaukee Pride has named Trans LifeLine as our 2016 GiveOUT Day beneficiary. Trans Lifeline is a 501(c)3 nonprofit grass roots organization owned, operated and staffed entirely by transgender volunteers for the well being of trans people. Over 97% of Trans LifeLine’s funding comes from small donations from the general public.

Shockingly, transgender people are now 22 times as likely to attempt suicide than cisgender people. Family rejection is a leading cause of over half of trans suicides.

Recognizing that trans people often do not receive the specific, sensitive and culturally competent care, Trans Lifeline founder Greta Martela established Trans Lifeline in 2014.

“There are a ton of suicide hotlines,” Greta told TIME Magazine. “But it’s really difficult to get a person who isn’t trans to understand what it’s like to be trans.”

In its first year, the hotline trained over 300 volunteers and accommodated over 8,000 calls. Trans Lifeline has now exceeded 18,000 calls and counting.

After learning that call volumes have more than doubled since anti-LGBTQ legislation in states like North Carolina and Mississippi, we selected Trans Lifeline as our Give OUT Day beneficiary to ensure that every caller gets the care they deserve.

“In recent years, our organization has challenged ourselves to do more and be more for local trans and queer people,” said Jorna Taylor of the Milwaukee Pride Board of Directors. “Our partnership with Trans Lifeline enables us to support more people — at their moment of need — than we could ever possibly reach alone.”

Trans Lifeline estimates that answering each hotline call costs approximately $10. Although $10 may not mean much to you, it may fund a life-saving telephone call for a person in need. Give what you can on August 2 — and you can restore hope to lives who have lost it.